1. Field
This invention relates to heating irons. In particular, it relates to heating iron covers for ski wax irons.
2. State of the Art
A number of iron covers are known. Iron covers are used for a variety of purposes such as preventing the scorching of materials being ironed. Doyel, U.S. Pat. No. 5,987,788 provides a removable iron cover with steam passage holes made of polytetrafluroethylene (PTFE) inserted over the sole plate of a steam iron to facilitate the efficient delivery of steam from the iron to the material being ironed. It also reduces friction, and acts as a thermal barrier to prevent burning of the material. Emberson-Nash et al, U.S. Pat. No. 5,815,962 provides another attachable cover for the sole-plate of a hand steam iron made of a relatively thin sheet of friction reducing PTFE material including steam passage holes which provides a low friction heat shield for hand pressing steam irons.
A number of curling iron cases have been designed for storing curling irons that are still warm. These irons cannot simply be stowed in a suitcase or kit where items may be damaged in close proximity to the heated iron. Thus the prior art contains a number of curling irons travel cases used to store a hot curling iron, such as Lykowski, U.S. Pat. No. 5,950,826 which also provides a single travel case with multiple storage compartments for the curling iron and other hair maintenance devices and materials.
Ski wax irons are used to apply various types of waxes to the bottoms of skis, snowboards, and toboggans. Different waxes are used to alter the performance characteristics of the skies to suit a particular snow conditions and protect the skis from moisture. Conventional methods of applying a wax coating to a surface use a solid bar of wax to rub the wax from the bar onto the surface. This hand rubbing typically left a non-uniform and discontinuous layer of wax on the surface, which then had to be smoothed with a piece of plastic or cork. Others used a hand-held propane torch to melt the wax to form a uniform coating on the surface. Still others applied wax to the skies by brushing or rolling melted wax onto the skies.
Ski irons were developed to not only melt the solid wax to drop onto the sliding surfaces, but to then evenly distribute the same using the sole of the hot iron in a trowel-like movement. Thus the bottom of the ski wax iron must be smooth to prevent uneven application of the wax or roughing the sliding surface; thereby reducing the ski's performance. Others use ski wax irons to melt and apply a wax laminate to the bottom of the ski, such as the wax laminate described in Fitzburgh, U.S. Pat. No. 5,534,061.
These ski wax irons typically only get up to about 200 degrees Celcius to prevent breaking down the components of various types of waxes and bases of skis. However, when turned off, they still are too hot to be placed into an equipment bag without damaging other items placed therein, such as supplies of waxes. Oftentimes, when used in the field the hot ski wax iron is placed in the snow to rapidly cool it before storage. This causes water to get into the electronics damaging the iron. The sole of these ski wax irons must also be protected during storage from marring or damage. The iron cover described below provides a protective cover for these ski wax irons to aid in ready storage while still warm.